A Visit to The Leaning Tower of Pisa

This is a guest post authored by Mr. Roland Millward. He is well travelled and host a travel blog. I would love one day to travel to Pisa, but until then…Roland gives us a descriptive visual of this beautiful place and amazing structure. Love always, Chrissy

Italy is famous for its beautiful countryside, lakes, history and architecture including the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In 2016 I was privileged to go on a tour of Italy which included a stop in Pisa with a visit, of course, to the famous Leaning Tower.

The history of this tower is intriguing and I would like to tell you about my visit.

Work started on building the tower in August 1173 and it was completed in 1399. At completion, it was originally 60m high but today it is 56.67m on the highest side and 55.86m on the lowest side, with getting close to 300 steps to get to the top. It was quite early during the build that the tower began to lean.

The tower is for the bell to summon the worshippers to the Basilica. There is also a Baptistery forming a row of buildings, the Baptistery first, then the Basilica and headed up by the Tower of Pisa. Unbaptised Catholics were not allowed into the Basilica and hence the Baptistery is a separate building.

As the tower was built there were attempts to correct the leaning by adding structures at another angle. This means that if the leaning tower today was stood upright it would still be wonky as a result. If you look carefully at the tower you can see the change of angles as the tower was built. The reason for the lean of course is the soft ground and it has also affected the Baptistery and Basilica but due to the width of these buildings, this is not really noticeable.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is now Stable

There have been many attempts to prevent the Tower of Pisa from falling down. There is a good reason not to straighten it – the tourists would not come in the same numbers! The most recent work has finally stabilised the tower and it now sits leaning at about 17 feet (5.18m) off the perpendicular. This final work was completed in 2001 and the tower is no longer moving towards disaster. You can pay to climb the steps to the top of the tower but make sure that you are fairly fit and be prepared for a strange feeling due to the lean. If you wish to climb the tower and it is advisable to book tickets in advance to avoid disappointment on the day. Numbers are limited.

Standing at the base of the leaning tower and looking upwards made me feel quite dizzy and others standing next to me felt the same way. It must be our brains trying to straighten the tower coupled with the fact that beautiful white cumulus clouds were moving across the sky. It was a weird feeling!

Interestingly, the word Pisa comes from an ancient Greek word meaning ‘marshy land’, which perhaps in hindsight, should have given the early engineers and architects a clue about how good and deep the foundations should have been.

The City of Pisa – More than the Leaning Tower

Pisa has more to offer than the leaning tower. It is a famed also for its university, which is the 19th oldest in the existence in the world, founded in 1343. The students form a large part of the population of the City of Pisa. The University of Pisa is a public research university and has students of the highest calibre. (see the photo below)

There are some beautiful buildings in Pisa and it’s well worth exploring away from the area that the leaning tower is located. Many of the tourists turn up on coaches, look at the tower and leave so even a few hundred yards away it can be much quieter to explore and take in the everyday Pisa. If you ever do get the opportunity to visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa make sure you allow enough time to take in much more of this interesting and beautiful Italian city.

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Published by Roland Millward

I like to write about Finance, Life, People and Travel. I have a background in many businesses including financial services, the National Health Service, Social Media and retailing giving me a broad range of experience to call upon in my writing.
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73 comments

[…] next day was a trip to Pisa and of course, it’s a must to stand next to the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. It can be quite disorienting to stand next to that tower looking upwards as it seems my brain kept […]

I visited Pisa myself two years back and we found the Field of Miracles to be spectacular inspite of the heaving crowds. Although I did read up about it, I never knew that Pisa meant marshy land which makes so much sense.. Informative post !

My husband is half Italian and he and I would love to go to Italy!! When I lived in England I wanted to go so bad – so this is a future trip the husband and I would love to do! So many amazing things to see there and the Leaning Tower of Pisa is amazing!

It would be amazing to visit Pisa some day. The Leaning Tower of Pisa has always been a place I have always wanted to see since I was a young child. I find the history of the tower very interesting and something I didn’t know about. Thanks for sharing this awesome information.

I would love to see this in person! I would love it even more if we waited to travel there until our daughters could enjoy the experience too. They are now two and eight years old so we are getting closer to that dream vacation!

I can imagine that Pisa would have many other great things to recommend it. It would just be eclipsed by that incredible piece of architecture. It’s great that some of the issues have been fixed now though.

I never knew the history of the Leaning Tower Of Pisa. Just that it was leaning. So this is super informative. I would be tempted to climb up if I were there, but it sounds like an adventure. I imagine the feeling of leaning is really strange as you get high up.

[…] happened in her life. I have recently been privileged to write a guest post for Chrissy, ‘A Visit to the Leaning Tower of Pisa’ Likewise Chrissy has written for my blog, ‘Galveston Island – not just brown […]